Where everyone wins

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, January 12, 2003

Bay Area sports fans are spoiled, but not satisfied. The San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders are both in the playoffs, a pleasant echo of the baseball season, when the Giants and A's advanced to the postseason.

Each team has its own endearing story line. It's not easy being quarterback of the franchise that produced Joe Montana and Steve Young -- and five Super Bowl victories. It's even tougher trying to coach a team when expectations are always impossibly high, and the presence of the legendary Bill Walsh in the front office casts a daunting shadow.

But overachieving 49er quarterback Jeff Garcia and underappreciated coach Steve Mariucci, after a season of fits and starts, had their finest hour last Sunday in a reality-bending (and rules-bending, but that's another story) 39- 38 comeback victory over the New York Giants. Suddenly, it's the 1980s all over again.

The Raiders, whose season seemed doomed after an early November loss to the 49ers, are evoking memories of the '70s with the most amazing senior-tour performance in the NFL since George Blanda. Jerry Rice, a 40-year-old 49ers castoff, is having his best season in six years. And even the most avowed Raider hater cannot deny the justice of a Super Bowl opportunity for the splendid veteran wide receiver on the other side, Tim Brown, who exuded class and a commitment to excellence through many difficult years for the team.

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One key to today's Raiders-Jets game will be the play of Oakland's Men of Steel cornerbacks -- superstar Charles Woodson and journeyman Tory James. Each recently had a steel plate surgically attached to a broken fibula. The miracles of modern medicine, blended with the macho ethic of pro football, are lifting that annoying artificial barrier between "healing" and "playing."

Truth be told, this will have been a fine season for both teams no matter what happens today. But don't dare say that anywhere near the Coliseum's turbo- passioned south end zone, the Black Hole. The fun has just begun. The Super Bowl remains a long two weeks away.